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So after crowning Jamie xx’s “Loud Places” and Bob Moses’ Days Gone By as the greatest single and album of 2015 respectively, we now switch our attention to what we can expect to hear over the next twelve months in the world of dance/electronica. The first big album out of the blocks this year is Moth (Jan 22), the third album from alt-pop duo Chairlift, which judging by its first […]

Introducing: Purity Ring

The name may conjure up images of The Jonas Brothers, but Canadian witch house duo Purity Ring produce the kind of unsettling creepy electronica that would give the squeaky-clean former Disney trio nightmares.

Formed in Edmonton in 2010, producer Corin Roddick, previously a drummer with post-rock outfit Gobble Gobble (now Born Gold), and trained pianist-turned-bewitching chanteuse Megan James became the darlings of the blogosphere after uploading a futuristic blend of skittering hip-hop beats, gleaming synth hooks and woozy wobble bass-lines entitled “Ungirthed” early last year.

Compared to everyone from The Knife to Aaliyah to future labelmate Grimes, their noirish take on the sub-genre coined ‘post-R&B’ inspired Pitchfork to name Purity Ring as the Best New Band of 2011, led to support slots with Neon Indian and Com Truise, and attracted the attention of British indie label 4AD, who released their first studio effort, Shrines, this week.

Luckily, despite living at opposite ends of the country during much of the recording, the pair have come together to produce a record that justifies the hype. Featuring 11 songs titled in a gobbledygook language (“Lofticries,” “Crawlersout”), the majority of which are twisted fairytales based on the diary entries of a teenage James, Purity Ring have created a wholly unique world that is as sinister as it is enchanting.

Indeed, James may possess the floaty ethereal tones of a young Liz Fraser, as best displayed on the Bjork-ish avant-garde pop of “Amenamy,” the doom-laden dub of “Cartographist” and the woozy slow jam of “Grandloves.” But with lyrics such as “cut open my sternum and pull my little ribs around you” (“Fineshrine”) and “drill little holes into my eyelids that I might see you in my sleep” (“Belispeak”), she also has a macabre streak that sometimes borders on the unhinged.

In another set of hands, her warped way with words might have come across as gimmicky, but Roddick’s inventive production, part 8-bit electronica, part Southern hip-hop, part Timbaland-esque R&B, ensures there’s substance to their style.

And while most bedroom-pop outfits often struggle to transfer their insular sound to a live setting, Purity Ring are fast becoming one of the must-see fledgling electronica acts, largely thanks to Roddick’s custom-built synthesiser, which cleverly uses eight touch-sensitive miniature lanterns to trigger single notes.

There are so many DIY electropop acts currently clamouring for attention that it’s impossible to predict whether Purity Ring will be one of the few to break through, but there’s unlikely to be anyone as strangely charming.

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About the Author

Jon O'Brien's love of music began as a six-year-old after becoming bizarrely transfixed with the 80s poodle rock of Heart, Europe and Def Leppard. Switching his attention to pop icon Michael Jackson, he then became addicted to the UK Top 40, becoming a rather pointless walking Wikipedia of chart positions in the process. Driving his poor neighbors up the wall while learning to play the drums as a teen, he toyed with the idea of becoming a musician, but in studying Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, he realized heÕd rather write about music than perform it. Since then, he's written thousands of reviews and biographies on everything from bubblegum pop to death metal, but electronica remains his main passion, with everything from Aphex Twin to Zero 7 in his spare room-consuming record collection. Jon resides in northwest England near Liverpool.